Aversion
by Saturn Bracelet
Summary: It is during these moments that Lisa thinks she could fall in love with Jackson.


**Disclaimer: **I don't own anything having to do with _Red Eye_. It's Wes Craven's baby, not mine.

**Summary: **It is during these moments that Lisa thinks she could fall in love with Jackson.

**Notes: **Written on a whim. It might _possibly _be continued, although I'm wary of starting anything with multiple chapters simply because I don't have the time. We'll see though. Please drop a review and let me know what you think.

**Aversion**

"Look at me."

Her eyes open and her vision slowly comes into focus. Rich hazel meets with pale blue and at that moment no other two people in the world have been more on the same page.

Breath coming in ragged puffs, bodies moving and sliding together. Two people completely and totally drowning in the moment. In each other.

It's unbelievable. Lisa still finds it bizarre on just about every level imaginable. Bizarre and unbelievable that for almost two years she's been in a semi-relationship with—of all the people in the world—Jackson Rippner.

How it got started is something that she still hasn't quite come to terms with. She certainly can pinpoint the exact moment she met him. In that Texas airport. She can remember how attracted she'd felt to him from the first moment. But she can't remember anything in the resulting year. Her life after the Red Eye flight to Miami and the events that followed seemed to be … _normal. _

Jackson had evaded the authorities in ways that Lisa could only imagine. The strange thing was that when he went missing from the hospital, her mind didn't automatically leap and make the connection that he would, one day, come after her.

She'd felt strangely safe and content for that entire year. She carried on with her job and her normal routine. She still got up at three a.m. and made scrambled eggs when she couldn't sleep. Her drink of choice was still a Seabreeze, although she _did _order them with less frequency than before. Life carried on, more or less, as normal.

In fact the only thing that ever interrupted her routine were the frequent dreams.

She remembers with perfect clarity the first time she ever dreamed of Jackson. Mainly because it is a recurring dream that she _still _has from time-to-time, even three years after the fact.

A red scarf, soft and silky to the touch, wrapping around her neck and choking the life out of her. The first time she had the dream, she'd woken up to find that she was scratching and clawing at her throat. Hard enough to elicit blood. She hadn't done that ever again, but her initial reaction stayed with her. Everytime she had the dream, she woke up screaming and clutching at her throat.

Once or twice she'd done it while Jackson was lying next to her.

She definitely has an aversion to red scarves, if not anything else.

Jackson, for his part, always looks a bit disturbed when he sees Lisa with a pen. She supposes she can't blame him for that, even though she definitely has no plans of giving him another impromptu tracheotomy.

She is brought back to the present by the feeling of Jackson's lips on her jawline. He is trailing soft kisses all over her face.

The way that he is during these moments always gets to Lisa. No one could accuse Jackson Rippner of being a particularly gentle man. With his line of work, it would be misplaced and construed as an inherent weakness.

He is cold, exceedingly sarcastic, and doesn't project softness or tenderness. But during his rare and unguarded moments—usually with Lisa as the case happens to be—there is a different aspect to him. Gone is the ice from his blue eyes, his shoulders aren't quite as squared or tense, and his tone of voice is not as harsh or impatient.

It is during these moments that Lisa thinks she could fall in love with Jackson.

Who knows, maybe she's already there. Maybe she _does _love him. And maybe he loves _her_. It's hard to tell really as she never associates any of the normal feelings that love brings with Jackson.

She's not particularly happy to see him when he shows up out of the blue. When he lets himself into her apartment and waits for her to get home from work, she is more annoyed than excited to see him. This is probably owed more to the fact that he usually only stays for a night … maybe two at the most … before he leaves again. It can be anywhere from a few weeks to six months until the next time she lays eyes on him.

What's there to be excited about when he's going to be gone as quickly as he appeared?

They never talk. What would they say really?

Lisa is guarded around Jackson.

Jackson is guarded around _everyone_.

If anyone ever really knew the real Jackson, Lisa is willing to bet that they didn't survive to tell about it.

Sometimes, however, she does see glimpses of his true personality shining through.

Once, about five months ago, she caught him reading a historical novel that followed the exploits of a fictional European king who had been dethroned and kicked out of his country.

Before he left, Lisa had asked if he'd leave the book behind. He'd raised his eyebrow and then deposited it in her lap before walking out the front door. The novel now has a permanent place on her bookshelf, even though she'd hated the actual story and thought it was nothing more than a trashy novel one would pick up at the airport gift-store. (Not too far from the truth; Jackson had picked it up from the gift-store in one of the hotels he'd stayed at.)

She also knows that he has an affinity for game shows. He always seems to know all the answers and is constantly scoffing or shaking his head when a contestant gives the wrong response. Lisa has fought the urge on several occasions to laugh at him. She always catches herself, though. Laughing and enjoying his company is a line that isn't sure she wants to cross.

It's enough that she's almost always overcome with a barrage of emotions when he simply looks at, or touches her. That's enough to deal with without adding something akin to comradeship into the mix.

Her eyes close when she feels her body approaching climax. Jackson immediately demands that she look at him again. He grabs her chin as he thrusts into her and forces her to open her eyes and look at him.

She feels like she's going to cry.

-

"How long are you here for?" Lisa asks.

"Until tomorrow afternoon."

"I'm working all day tomorrow," she informs him.

"Take the day off," he flatly says, not even bothering to open _his _eyes and look at _her._

"Why? So I can spend it with you?"

He opens one strikingly blue eye at that.

"Yes," is his simple answer.

Lisa sighs and turns over on her side, facing away from Jackson.

She can feel his eyes bearing into her back.

And she knows that she'll take tomorrow off.


End file.
